The other weekend, my wife and I visited Quebec city. One of the interesting events we attended was a cinema production on the history of Quebec, with lots of light and sound effects. What was unique about this production was that the projection screen was the face of some forty-five grain elevators across the River from the historic area of the city. As I watched this show, I noted that many of the scenes and their continuity made little sense to me. I was not familiar with much of the history of the Province of Quebec. As a result, I had trouble putting the sequence of events in context.
I believe this can happen as well when we read or listen to many of the readings from the Old Testament. Sometimes as we listen to them, we can scratch our heads and wonder what they were all about. Unless we know the history surrounding the events, or have some idea of the culture of the day and how the people thought, they can be very confusing. Let me explain.
To that Isaiah replied, "Listen, now, descendants of King David. It's bad enough for you to wear out the patience of people - do you have to wear out God's patience too? Well then, the Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son and will name him "Immanuel.'
We have all read or heard the above reading from the prophet Isaiah. To understand this prophetic proclamation about the birth of Christ, we need to understand the events that surround it.
Isaiah lived in the seven hundreds BC during the same period of time as Amos, Hosea, and Elijah, other Old Testament prophets. One of the main differences with Isaiah, however, was that he was from Southern Israel called Judah, probably near the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah and his disciples had a long period of ministry probably extending over a fifty years.
Northern Israel and Syria have just formed a coalition to protect themselves against Assyria, a growing threat. They want Judah, the Southern Kingdom, to join this coalition but Ahaz, the young king at the time, refuses to do so.
As a result, Northern Israel and Syria attack Judah to force them into the coalition.
This is when Isaiah steps in to tell Ahaz to stand firm. By doing so, Judah would be able to withstand Northern Israel's attack. But Ahaz does not listen. Ahaz calls on Assyria to help them in their fight against Northern Israel. Assyria then goes in and obliterates Northern Israel.
Judah is now at the mercy of Assyria, and has to pay tribute to this more powerful force, including compromising many of its traditional values and laws. When Judah discontinues paying this tribute, Assyria attacks Judah.
Isaiah predicted this would take place, and warned Ahaz that if he failed to listen to God, Judah would fall to Assyria, and many of their citizens would be deported. This eventually took place.
So what do we have to learn from all this?
In human terms, Isaiah's advise to Ahaz did not appear to make sense to him. Isaiah wanted Ahaz to "trust in the Lord", to stand firm and be calm. But Ahaz did not have the faith to do so. As a political strategy, Ahaz's appeal to Assyria seemed prudent, but it cost Judah its resources and freedom. Ahaz may have been humanly prudent, but he was not wise in the ways of the Lord. His lack of trust in God was not only reflected in his political decisions, but also in his decisions to compromise his own values and laws.
To Isaiah, Ahaz and his counsellors were worshipping false Gods. The subsequent defeat of Judah by Assyria was a consequence of this lack of faith and trust in divine providence. The prophetic sign given by Isaiah to Ahaz (which came about some seven hundred years later) went unheard.
In the Gospel of John, we read: "If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples. You will learn the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:3 1-
Foundational to our faith and success is to place our trust and hope in Christ. He asks us to make His word our home. Often, it is our perceived cleverness, our human prudence, our need for efficiency, that gets in the way of the greater wisdom that comes from God through prayer, and through our gentle reliance on God's revelation to us as we take the time to explore what is best.
No comments:
Post a Comment